To think that £200 a week for a family of 4 is doable?

[Bluebridge]

So I've become a sahm due to the cost of/ lack of flexible childcare. We are 2 adults and 2 young dc.

We obviously checked the figures before I became a sahm but some things have changed and now we are left with £200 a week after bills except food. I'm having a panic but this is fine isn't it!?

[Pizzaexpressreview]

I really hope to find some work I had no idea it would be this hard after being a sahm.

[Oly5]

I actually think wingsabdstrings is right. It's fine when they're toddlers not to have much cash and spend time in the park. When they're teenagers, they want to go to the cinema with friends, eat out, take trips, have a nice pair of trainers. And why ever not? It's part of growing up and being independent and fitting in. It's one reason I always try to keep us on two incomes as much as possible

[thebear1]

Food I think is okay, we are doing 9 days self catering and I got everything from scratch from Tesco for £121. Including wine and steak and other treats. It is the other costs I would worry about, uniform, things breaking, gifts etc.

[nonevernotever]

Thanks @Pizzaexpressreview That link looks interesting too. I'm definitely saving a fortune (and finally managing to lose weight) by taking a packed lunch everyday and by keeping real coffee, a Lakeland individual coffee filter thingy and milk at work so that I never need to go near the work canteen or the coffeeshop.

[Bluebridge]

@dubious has it right, I know we won't starve but i don't want to be struggling every month and living a miserable life tbh.

I didn't mean to offend anyone and I know there are plenty of people living on less money.

I grew up in poverty and seen the drain it had on my parents. I've always been lucky enough to be able to work until recently and never thought I would have to become a sahm.

We can eat well for £70 a week and when we have got used to the new budget we will save whatever we can.

[noeffingidea]

when you're on a budget insurance is your best friend. I've found the opposite, tbh. Never had insurance, and never needed it either. Saved myself a lot of money by not taking out insurance and extended warranties. The downside is that you need to have savings, or do without things for a certain amount of time until you can afford to repair or replace it.

[Pizzaexpressreview]

That's my worry Swing. I think it's easy to forget those things an so want to try and build a budget list to cover as much as I can think of. My daughter really wants swimming lessons so I need to see if that's possible.

[Pizzaexpressreview]

austerityhousekeeping.wordpress.com

posting so I can read it and find it later! It's a mn linked blog I think.

[Whathaveilost]

So that's £800 a month after bills?mOf course it's doable. Some weeks will cost more than £200 and other weeks cost a lot less. Try and get into the habit of saving then it's not a panic when it's an expensive month.

[swingofthings]

It comes down to how well you are budgeting. I've seen friends doing very basic budgets concluding they'd be fine. Except that they only counted main items and forgot about all the smaller ones.

They didn't budget forctheir DD starting to be invited to bday parties and paying for presents or her starting swimming lessons and vying stuff like swim bags goggles and again when bag was left behind. Then their garden got hit by a storm, with a tree falling on the fence, needs to repair and cut tree down. Some months later one of their parents became ill and need to go weekly to visit in hospital costing a lot in fuel and parking.

After 2 years they were caught into the vicious circle of only being able to repay minimum CC payment that increased every few months as they then needed to use their CC for every day bills.

I think £200 is okay if it allows for £75-100 a month emergency fund and budget already takes into account costs beyond monthly regular ones.

[Pizzaexpressreview]

Ah it was. Found it. It's Austerity Housekeeping and it's turned into a book!

[Pizzaexpressreview]

Ooh looks interesting. Wasn't one I was thinking of I don't think but will tag to read the blog later. Thankyou.

Was it Boffinmum or similar name that did something? I'm not 100% sure and don't know how to tag to ask her.

[Pizzaexpressreview]

Ooh thanks I will look at that .

i vaguely remember a mumsnetter used to produce recipes on a budget - is it that one? (I think she was an academic I just can't remember her name.) I didn't used to worry as much about budgeting but I had noticed shed set up something!!

[nonevernotever]

I've mentioned this a few times on Mumsnet before, but Thriftylesley's website has lots of meal pans and recipes for living on a pound a day per person, and the recipes I've tried have all been really nice. They are all nutritionally balanced, calorie counted and so on, and her couscous salad recipe has become my favourite go to for my packed lunches.

[QueenOfVipers]

80sMum funny definition of need
Especially when one in four uk families has less than £95 in savings.

[InDubiousBattle]

I think very few families can afford to have 3 months expenditure put away for emergencies.

Op, I don't want to put words in your mouth but I understood your op to mean 'what can I expect from a £200 a week budget?', I don't think op ever implied that they would starve. Some people on here think it's a big budget, others think it's tight- it depends entirely on your expectations. I think it's tight, so a treat would be a take away rather than a big day out.

[QueenOfVipers]

Get unemployment insurance for DH - It can be quite reasonable. 40-70% of your salary paid to you for x amount of months if you lose your job.
I pay £18 a month for mine and have had it for years through varying jobs and I know you can claim non income based JSA in conjunction with it too providing you've paid tax etc long enough.
Worth it for peace of mind.
When you're on a budget insurance is your best friend. You can get insurance for many many things for a reasonably low cost and it's cheaper if you need to claim. The downside of course being the "wasted" money if you don't need to claim but it's a small price to pay for peace of mind.

For Christmas there are savings schemes where you pay in x amount per week and get it back out in November as cash or vouchers. Sometimes the deals top you up too. It's not much but my mum got an extra £50 on top of the £250 she'd saved as she got a good offer.
It's a bit late in the year now but for next year.

Cashback is awesome too. Top cashback and quidco are the best. Before you make ANY purchase particularly online purchases ensure that there's no way to get cashback. Remember ocado, Asda,
Tesco etc often offer these deals via quidco etc too. So check for everything. On my worst month I made £7 and on my best £200 (that included renewing my car and home insurance with their help though).
Not bad and builds up throughout the year.

Do a staples stock up every few months.
Value/own brand stuff is just as good particularly "ingredient" stuff. Eg, pasta, chopped tomatoes, kidney beans are cheap and really no different. I tend to use new customer vouchers (recent one being £20 off £80 shop on sainsburys) with a fake email address to do big stock ups to fill the cupboards.
Always useful

[Bluebridge]

I wouldn't necessarily spend £200 a week just as spends. Apart from food and fuel it needs to cover birthdays, Christmas, clothes etc.

@80s mum, 3 months worth of expenditure saved is not realistic for us and wasn't even when I was working. I agree that a few evening shifts would be a big help but because of the hours dh works I can't guarantee childcare in the evenings.

[Nuttynoo]

I'm a WP and don't spend anywhere close to 200/mth after bills/travel.

[Afreshstartplease]

I think its plenty i spend less for family of 6

[londonrach]

Oly...its a very decent budget. You could save on £200 per week for extras like broken boiler

[londonrach]

Very doable. £200 is loads. You could save £100-150 per week if just using for food etc so if boiler broke etc you have spare money.

[80sMum]

When my DCs were little, I managed to find evening work in a factory from 6 till 10pm, when DH was at home to look after them. It was a godsend. The pay wasn't great but the extra money coming in enabled us to afford to take the children out from time to time, travel to visit grandparents and generally feel more comfortable. If you get the chance, OP, it's worth doing, if only for a limited time.

[80sMum]

£200 a week doesn't go very far when you start to think about all the extras. It's not just about food. What about clothes, shoes, school uniform, books, equipment, after school activities, birthdays, friends' parties etc?

You will also need an emergency fund of at least 3 months normal expenditure set aside for unexpected expenses (boiler breaks down, roof leaks, car packs up, redundancy of the earning partner etc).

[Bluebridge]

@henry I can't afford to work, if I could then I would